FILM REVIEW: SKYSCRAPER (12A)

The Rock… as The Rock.

Written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber (Central Intelligence), Skyscraper tells the story of Will Sawyer (played by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) – a former Marine and FBI hostage rescue team leader-turned-cyber security expert who vowed to never handle a gun since a face-off with a murderous villain that cost him his leg.

And it was through this tragedy that he meets his future wife, Sarah (Neve Campbell – yes her from the Scream movies).

Fast forward a few years and Sawyer is hired to assess the security of the world’s tallest skyscraper – a fictional 220-storey building in Hong Kong. He declares it safe, stating ‘It’s a Fort Knox in the sky’.

But of course, someone proves him wrong – otherwise this would have been a rather dull movie.

In fact, he’s proved wrong just five minutes later, when a ‘Hans Gruber-alike’ stand-in and his fellow henchmen set the building on fire in order to get a flash drive that has been locked away in a top floor penthouse. This may seem like an extreme way to pull off a heist, and it is – but you haven’t seen anything yet.

The extreme lengths to save his family – who are all trapped inside – that Sawyer goes to are pretty far-fetched to say the least.

Remember when I said Sawyer had pledged to never use a gun? Just like with being proved wrong on his security analysis, that lasted a whole ten minutes too – which is fair enough as we come to expect certain things from a film that features Johnson.

Guns and bullets flying around are one of those things.

It has to be said though that even for a Johnson flick, this is a pretty silly movie.

There’s a moment where Sawyer is about to take on a challenge and says, ‘This is stupid’. So yes, this is silly – but at least the film is self-aware.

Although there is an obvious similarity to Die Hard, Skyscraper lacks the heart and soul of the eighties classic. What we have here is a mindless action movie with no substance, which is completely fine if that’s what you’re in the mood for.

But despite the lack of ingenuity and missed opportunity in some areas to make this a more honed actioner – it does at the very least reach the right heights in the entertainment department.

So if you’re happy for your head to be in the clouds for some brainless summer fun – Johnson once again serves up some serviceable blockbuster fare.

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